facebook application development

With over 400 million active users, Facebook has become a prime spot for brands to advertise and promote themselves. Over 1.4 million local businesses have a presence on Facebook, reaching out to consumers through pages, events and applications. Diesel Spain is taking social marketing to the next level, taking Facebook off the Web and putting it in their dressing rooms.

Diesel stores in Spain have introduced Diesel Cam, an interactive installation that allows shoppers to photograph themselves and post the pictures immediately to their Facebook profiles. Shoppers can photograph themselves as they try on clothes and ask their Facebook friends for advice about which garments they should buy, or they can publish photos to show off all the new clothes they are buying.

Shoppers connect to Facebook via Facebook Connect, using a touch screen monitor on the installation. They then have the opportunity to photograph themselves in Diesel clothes and publish their photos immediately to Facebook. The photos come complete with a Diesel logo in the corner, so it’s great advertising for the company, not to mention tons of fun for shoppers.

Facebook Connect has given third party websites the opportunity to connect with users through Facebook, but Diesel is taking it to a new level. The Diesel Cam gives live users the opportunity to enter social media directly from their stores. How do you think campaigns like the Diesel Cam will impact the future of shopping? Will Facebook and social shopping become a permanent part of the consumer experience?

Blogged is making reading and commenting on your favorite blogs more of a social experience, with some new changes that include Facebook integration for sharing comments and posts in your news feed. There’s also the ability to “like” blog posts, much like the same feature in Facebook for status updates or feed entries.

The new Blogged interface looks very similar to a Facebook news feed, with profile photos accompanying likes and comments just below the blog previews. The new layout gives the site more of a community feel, as opposed to the previous site which was more of a traditional news site. According to Blogged co-founder Gladys Kong, this was one of the main goals of the new features.

“Traditional news media has been one-directional. and while blogs elicit reader comments, they’re typically scattered across the web for a fragmented experience. With Blogged, we’re pulling together all these stories and their insightful discussions into a single social hub.”

Another included feature is a widget for adding the new comments and likes on Blogged back to your own personal blog. This can help bloggers better track who’s commenting or liking their posts, as well as posts for blogs with similar content or interests. This can be especially beneficial to businesses when looking for industry trends and how content is being received in key demographics.